Adam Vourvoulis spent fifteen years as a sommelier and wine director at some of Los Angeles's most significant restaurants before founding Vin de California in 2016. The project is everything his career in the dining room was not: small, independent, irreverent, and committed entirely to the kind of honest winemaking he spent years championing from the other side of the table. Pasadena's first commercial winery in nearly a century, Vin de California makes wine the way Adam talks about it: directly, without apology, and with a sense of humor.
Heritage Varieties, Natural Methods
Vin de California works with heritage and immigrant grape varieties grown in Santa Barbara County and the broader Central Coast. The wines are made with spontaneous fermentation using native yeasts, no fining, no filtration, and zero added sulfur dioxide. Organic farming practices, uncertified, guide the viticulture. The approach is consistent with the most demanding zero-zero standards in California natural wine.
The Galaxy, the Zed, and the Pet-Nat
The portfolio includes the Galaxy Barbera, a red from Santa Barbara County; Zed, a blend drawing on Tempranillo and other heritage red varieties; a Pinot Noir; and a pet-nat made from a soft blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The wines carry a casual directness in their labels and names that mirrors Adam's approach to wine culture at large. He is known online as @natural_whine, produces Natural Disasters, a podcast with wine writer Marissa Ross, and makes cheeky wine-themed merchandise. The wines, however, are entirely serious.
Wine Without the Ceremony
What makes Vin de California distinctive is not just what goes into the bottles but what has been removed from the experience of drinking them. Adam has spent a career fighting against wine's tendency toward exclusivity and performance, and his own project reflects those values at every level. The wines are excellent, priced honestly, and made with genuine conviction. They belong to everyone who loves wine and resents being made to feel otherwise.
